For
those who have the patience, or interest, to read on further here is my
account of both bike and its first ride ride:

At
5:45a.m. I rolled out of the driveway of my folks place (where we are
on a mini-break) and out into the country around Kingston, Ontario. It
was twilight - the moon was still out and almost full and there was a
ground mist in places. As I rode eastwards, the sun rose like
a huge orange ball in front of me - made even more spectacular by the
mist which rolled in quite thickly at one point. It was a morning
tailor-made for the Carpenter and she performed beautifully. I
had been apprehensive before rolling out about whether everything would
work, but most held up fine and I managed about 30km.

I ran
a single-speed 18T Moyne fw with a Durax 47T chainring and 1/8
chain. It has been a long time since I have ridden a single-gear and I
must admit it was a challenge, especially as the homeward ride was into
the teeth of a very stiff westerly. I was glad to find out that I had
got the cotter-pins set right and the cranks relatively parallel to
each other. The chainset was fine - I decided not to have it replated
yet as the budget had been long blown. It was fine although it does
have a degree of wobble! I used Lyotard touring pedals (for my
widish feet) with MKS clips (with leather toe covers). It has been many
years since I rode clips and straps and it was interesting with my Sidi
touring shoes without cleats - pulled out a couple of times.

I
found the B-W 36H sf and Fiamme Yellow Label 26 X 1.25 clincher
wheelset with Schwalbe tan-side walls performed well and ironed out the
bumps etc. of a country road, but also had higher rolling resistance
than I am used to on a regular basis. The front wheel was held on with
GB alloy lever-style wingnuts, but I ended up having to use chromed
steel wingnuts on the rear when one of the GBs stripped!! Expensive!

The
Marsh style handlebars (right)
were a
little awkward at first - I am not used to their narrowness.
They were quite comfortable on the shallow drops though where the bars
were wider. I am going to look for some other bars to try (I have a
pair of Reynolds Maes bars already). The "honking rubbers" were
remarkably comfortable places to rest my hands - but the levers were at
an angle and I couldn't depress them from the top of the levers as I
usually do on other bikes. A major concern is that I have still not
managed to get the stem clamp bolt tightened enough and the bars,
rather disconsertingly, rotated on me when I tried to get out of the
saddle and haul on the bars!!! I also found that the stem was too short
- and I knew it might be - by about 2-3" which left me a bit cramped.
One brake lever was also fixed temporarily, which was not
great, as the nut on the clamp had stripped and I could not get the
clamp tightened - I ended up using some shims to secure it! I also need
to redo the bar tape as it was done in a bit of a hurry in order to
bring the bike down here with us.

I
finished the whole thing off
with a chromed headlamp, a tail-light, a Carradice Junior bag with a
bag-loop (thanks to Mark Ritz). The mudguards are Bluemel Populars, but
a more modern set from Germany (thanks Doug). The bottle cage is period
but the bottle was compromise as the budget couldn't stretch to a
Coloral. The blue handlebar tape (thanks John Wilson), with white Velox
ends, picks up on the blue in the headbadge.

The headbadge
(left) is
the original, but
interestingly came from pre-War stock as the Penton St. shop had been
bombed out during the War. The post-War badge with the newer address is
on the seat-tube transfer. The paintwork was done by Mario Vaz and
looks great although seems to be prone to chipping quite easily.

The
bike is understated elegance - maroon with gold lug-lining and cream
headtube and seat-tube panel. The frame is remarkably lightweight and
has the most outrageous pencil stays. The chrome on the forks is
original but the fork-crown chrome could not be saved. Likewise, the
stay-ends were also chromed at one time but had been painted over and
were not worth replating. All-in-all, what an amazing experience - a
lovely responsive, true ride.

I am
now in a sort of let-down phase and will have to find another project
when the budget allows. I would like to thank everyone who helped me -
with parts, advice, encouragement, etc. - it was at times a very steep
learning curve. Above all else, my most sincere thanks go to Doug Smith
who kept the frame for me for a couple of years before I could arrange
to have it painted and shipped - Doug also supplied me with a number of
parts.